Rights Now: Summer/Fall 2014

Who Will Hold the Restaurant Industry Accountable?By Kara Smith

Rights NowThe newsletter of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

Summer/Fall 2014uusc.org

continued on page 2

Business is booming in the restaurant industry. As the National Restaurant Association a restaurant trade association with 500,000 member restaurant businesses reports on its website, the industry employs nearly

10 percent of the U.S. workforce and is fueled by $683.4 billion in sales. When you eat out, you are paying for your meals and service but you might not know that you could be also supporting a powerful industry lobby. The National

Summer/Fall 2014

Editor

Jessica L. Atcheson

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The Unitarian Universalist

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Rights Now

Cover Who Will Hold the Restaurant Industry Accountable?

Page 5 Seeking the Truth about U.S. Torture

Page 7Long Road, Steady ProgressHolding Goldcorp Accountable in Guatemala

Page 11Assessing Progress in Haiti and on Capitol Hill

Page 13In Their Own Words: Hope Generates More Hope

Page 16The Power and Pitfalls of Service Learning

Page 18Enthusiasm, Input, and GrowthUUSC hosts annual meeting of Stewardship Circle

Page 19A Profile of True Engagement

Page 20Gathering at the Table

Rights NowIn this edition of

I have just received news that, for the second year in a row, UUSC has received a four-star rating on Charity Navigator. Thats the independent agency that rates charitable organizations on their transparency and efficient use of funds. Were very proud of this achievement for one thing it means you can donate to UUSC with confidence that your dollars will be spent responsibly. This kind of outside assessment is one way, in addition of course to the scrutiny of our independent board of trustees, that we at UUSC hold ourselves accountable.

Similarly, over the past three years we have developed sophisticated impact assessment measurements to help our partner organizations and us know if we are really achieving the outcomes (the deliverables, if you will) that we aim for and, if not, to assess how, when we fall short, we can learn to do better next time. Many nonprofits shy away from such assessments, but we know that the most effective organizations are the ones that have the confidence to look the facts straight in the eye.

And, just as we hold ourselves to high standards of accountability, so part of our job as a human rights organization is to hold those with power governments, businesses, militaries to account for their practices. Thats what this issue of Rights Now is all about: the many ways in which UUSC is working to see that power is shared and performance is transparent.

But such accountability starts at home. You can be proud that UUSC holds itself to the highest standards just as it does the world around us.

Bill Schulz

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A message from UUSCs president

2continued from cover

Restaurant Association, also known as the other NRA, is actively working to keep working families in poverty by blocking an increase in the minimum wage.

With such robust sales in the industry, you would think that restaurant workers would be in pretty good shape but that couldnt be further from the truth. As the Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United, a UUSC partner, reports, seven of the ten lowest paid occupations in the United States are in the restaurant industry, and three of those are tipped occupations. With a federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and a tipped minimum wage of $2.13, restaurant workers servers, people who bus tables, line cooks,

and more struggle to make a living. ROC United notes that tipped restaurant workers live in poverty at three times the rate of the U.S. workforce.

One result is that many restaurant workers experience a cruel irony: while they bring food to your table, they cant afford to put food on their own. ROC United has found that restaurant workers use food stamps at twice the rate of the general workforce. In fact, Fast Food, Poverty Wages, a report released by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, found that 52 percent of fast food workers rely on some form of government subsidy (e.g., food stamps). Taxpayers are left to foot the bill which adds up to nearly $7 billion a year in government subsidies

3for fast food workers who cannot afford the basic necessities.

This is the context in which the National Restaurant Association is leading the opposition to raising the minimum wage something that UUSC and its supporters believe is a moral imperative. While consumers and taxpayers subsidize the incomes of low-wage workers, the restaurant industry is funneling millions of dollars into lobbying, campaign spending, and hiring consultants to sway public opinion against raising the minimum wage.

A few ways this breaks down: According to public records, the National Restaurant Association employs 40 congressional lobbyists. Over the last 25 years its members have contributed $63 million in disclosed federal political

contributions $13 million in the 2012 election cycle alone. Industry lobbying efforts have kept the federal tipped minimum wage at $2.13 per hour for the last 23 years and have been a driving force in stalling efforts to keep the federal minimum wage at $7.25 for the last five years.

The National Restaurant Association has not only focused its energy on securing the support of policy makers but has also taken its misguided message to the masses. It has hired public relations executive Richard B. Berman and his Employment Policies Institute to mount public attacks against raising the minimum wage. This firm has produced commercials, public billboards, and websites to warn the public about the dangers of raising the minimum wage even though

4Call your senators and representatives. Ask if they accept donations from the National Restaurant Association. Ask them their position on raising the federal minimum wage and the tipped minimum wage. Ask them to support raising both this year in Congress.

Use UUSCs Paying Customer, Paying Attention stickers whenever you eat out. Put one on the bill or receipt you leave with the business to send a message to both management and workers. To order, visit uusc.org/checkstickers.

Ask local and state candidates their position on this issue. Help raise public awareness and support in your community as fall elections approach.

What You Can Do

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there is little to no historical or economic evidence to support their claims that giving America a raise will cause job loss or hurt the economy.

Countering claims by the National Restaurant Association, more than 600 economists signed an Economic Policy Institute open letter touting the stimulus effect on the economy of a raise to the minimum wage. Consider too that a February 2014 report by the Congressional Budget Office estimated that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 and the tipped minimum to 70 percent of that which the Minimum Wage Fairness Act proposes would

lift 900,000 workers and their families out of poverty instantly.

So who will hold the restaurant industry accountable to working families? Consumers and legislative advocates will. UUSC will. You will. See below for actions you can take to counteract the damaging influence of the National Restaurant Association.

Kara Smith is UUSCs senior associate for activism and mobilization.

5Seeking the Truth about U.S. TortureBy Jessica L. Atcheson

Physical abuse. Waterboarding. Stress positions. In one word: torture. According to U.S. government leaks to the press, these were some of the interrogation techniques employed by the CIA in the wake of 9/11. A 2012 report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence holds the promise of officially uncovering and equipping the public to demand accountability for these grave abuses of power and violations of human rights. After a vote earlier this year by the Senate Intelligence Committee to declassify key parts of the report, some measure of transparency is on its way thanks in part to strategic organizing facilitated by UUSC and a network of partners working in key states.

Why is releasing this report important? The public needs to understand what really happened so that the country is not doomed to repeat the severe violations that took place after 9/11. The report has the potential to spur new safeguards that would prevent future acts of torture sanctioned by the U.S. government.

The vote by the Senate Intelligence Committee on April 3 to approve sending the report to President Obama for declassification was not guaranteed. One thing that made it possible: a yes vote by Senator Richard Burr (R-NC). For more than a year before the vote, the National Religious Coalition Against Torture (NRCAT) and the North Carolina Council of Churches (NCCC) as part of the

6Grassroots Accountability Network (GAN) had been working with UUSC to influence Sen. Burr and other senators on the committee to vote in favor of transparency.

NRCAT focused on strategic placement of op-eds and outreach to other influential legislators, while NCCC rallied support from faith communities throughout North Carolina in concert with North Carolina Stop Torture Now. In August 2013, more than 190 faith leaders and human rights activists signed an open letter to Senator Burr urging him to vote for the reports release. The letter and related actions drew substantial coverage in local and national media, and prompted a public response from Burr, who went on record as being against the release of the report. But NCCC kept at it, organizing delegations of faith leaders to visit Burrs offices, cosponsoring a vigil, arranging a press conference, and more.

When it was finally time for the vote in April 2014, Burr made the right decision: he changed his position and voted to declassify the report. To me, this really shows that coordinated

efforts even if they seem small can really have a big impact, reflects Sarah Benckart, UUSCs former associate for civil liberties. In the 11-3 vote, Burr was joined by two other swing votes, Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME), a move that demonstrated bipartisan support for the release. The GAN had been coordinating to pressure the senators from Maine to vote for transparency, and UUSC rallied its Maine members to call the senators in the days before the vote.

Before it is released, the report must be approved for declassification by President Obama. Redactions will also be made. An overly censored report would undercut this major step toward U.S. accountability for torture. While the timeline for White House review is unclear as of press time, UUSC and supporters are urging the president to ensure that the process is carried out quickly and that the only redactions made are those truly necessary for national security.

Jessica L. Atcheson is UUSCs writer and editor.

Opposing Detroit Water Shutoffs

In June, mass water shutoffs in Detroit, Mich., started making news around the world. Acting on the belief that water is a human right and not a luxury, UUSC connected with a partner on the ground and got to work. Read the latest on this developing story at uusc.org/detroitupdates.

7Long Road, Steady ProgressHolding Goldcorp Accountable in Guatemala By Jessica L. Atcheson

Failure to respect indigenous peoples rights. Failing to respect the right to water. Failure to respect the human rights of local communities.

So read excerpts from Human Rights Assessment of Goldcorps Marlin Mine, a May 2010 report prepared by On Common Ground Consultants five years after Goldcorp mining corporations Marlin mine first opened in rural Guatemala. Since 2006, UUSC has been working with local partners and the indigenous Sipakapense people to hold Goldcorp accountable for a host of human rights violations.

Shortly after Goldcorp opened the Marlin mine, reports from local residents of water contamination, skin diseases caused by toxic chemicals, and damage to homes from mining operations began to surface. It became increasingly clear that Goldcorp had not fulfilled its obligations to adequately consult with local residents in advance of the mine creation or developed a clear reclamation plan to mitigate environmental damage after the mine was closed.

Early on, UUSC partnered with the Commission for Peace and Ecology (COPAE) and UUSC member and volunteer Rob Robinson, a mining expert, to help set up a community-controlled water-quality monitoring project. Over the years, COPAEs

environmental experts and volunteers, who have been monitoring water quality at several locations around the mine, found elevated levels of sulfates, nitrates, aluminum, copper, manganese, and arsenic, sometimes above the maximum limits set forth by the World Bank in its guidelines for open-pit mining.

Together with COPAE, the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas of Sipakapa (AIPAS), Robinson, and volunteer lawyer Molly Butler, UUSC has pursued a multifaceted approach including legal challenges before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Guatemalan courts as well as shareholder advocacy to hold Goldcorp responsible for the damage it is causing. UUSC has supported ongoing reports on water quality monitoring and on the damage the mine has done to local houses, and these reports have been used as evidence in litigation and advocacy.

Heres a recap of the progress thats been made over the past several years:

2008 Goldcorp shareholders call on

the company to conduct human rights impact assessment of the mine.

8May 2010 Human rights impact

assessment finds that Goldcorp has failed to respect many human rights of the indigenous people and communities around the mine.

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights responds to petition from AIPAS and rules precautionary measures are necessary.

April 2012 Guatemalan court agrees to

hear petition that mining law is unconstitutional because it did not follow legal requirements for free, prior, informed consent.

UUSC co-files a shareholder resolution requiring Goldcorp to implement a reclamation plan for the mine (estimated cost was $49 million, while Goldcorp only posted a $1 million bond).

During annual shareholder meeting, Goldcorp commits to $27.6 million bond for reclamation.

September 2012 The Guatemalan government,

Goldcorp, and 18 indigenous communities sign an agreement stating that Goldcorp will pay for drinking water infrastructure to be designed by the government.

Marlin mine uses in one hour the water a family needs to live for 20 years.

Source: Fausto Valiente, Commission for Peace and Ecology

Faucet designed by Alex Fuller from the thenounproject.comWater designed by Adam Zubin from the thenounproject.com

Marlin mine:250,000 liters per hour

Guatemalan family: 60 liters per day

9Read more from the United Nations in Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework online at ow.ly/zk9Iv.

State Duty to Protect: Nations are obligated to protect peoples human rights.

Corporate Duty to Respect: Businesses must comply with all laws and respect all human rights.

Access to Remedy: Nations must ensure that people whose rights have been violated have access to effective remedies.

What are the responsibilities of corporations and nations when it comes to business and human rights? In 2011, the United Nations laid out a series of guiding principles based on three main tenets:

Protect, Respect, and Remedy

August 2013 The Guatemalan government

announces a temporary moratorium on mining extraction licenses while pressure in the mining areas increases from affected communities and civil society organizations.

This struggle is not over. Goldcorp has made some progress such as installing a $9 million water treatment plant for its mining effluent but local Sipakapense villages still await the construction of adequate water infrastructure. The impacts of the mining operations are wide-ranging, and its still not clear that Goldcorps reclamation plan is anywhere near

sufficient. There is much work to be done, and UUSC is continuing to work with COPAE and AIPAS to ensure that the local communities and the Sipakapense peoples rights are protected and respected and that violations are remedied.

Jessica L. Atcheson is UUSCs writer and editor.

Guatemalan family: 60 liters per day

Justice Is Planting a Seed Justice Sunday Success

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Growing your own food is a powerful act. But what if you lacked land to cultivate or a multinational corporation held patents on all the seeds native to your land? Food sovereignty is the movement to ensure that people have control over the source and use of their food. During this springs Justice Sunday program, we asked you to build a garden and sponsor one for a family in Haiti to show solidarity and bolster food sovereignty as part of a sustainable recovery.

Our goal was 100 gardens and $25,000. Thanks to your enthusiasm and support, more than 148 individuals and groups committed to build gardens and raised over $43,000 enough to build gardens for 100 families and provide extra support for an urban garden training center in Port-au-Prince!

Now we want to hear about your gardens! E-mail [email protected] to share your stories and photos.

Assessing Progress in Haiti and on Capitol HillBy Jessica L. Atcheson

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What difference has U.S. aid to Haiti made in helping survivors recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake? This question seems to be rarely considered in the mainstream media or on Capitol Hill nowadays. While much of the world has moved on, UUSC is still committed to supporting Haiti in creating a sustainable recovery led by the Haitian people. The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act is a vital piece of legislation that increases transparency in U.S. aid to Haiti and thanks to dedicated UUSC members, supporters, and partners, it is now law.

The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act establishes essential mechanisms for effective management of U.S.-funded recovery efforts. The bill does the following:

Ensures timely and thorough reporting on the distribution of U.S. aid to Haiti

Measures the progress of U.S.-funded recovery projects

Prioritizes the needs of vulnerable populations, including displaced people, women, and children

UUSC has been working hard over the past several years mobilizing its activists and advocating on Capitol Hill with action alerts and legislative visits to make sure that this bill passed. In December 2013, the bill passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support, but then began to languish in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC).

Rather than give up, UUSC redoubled efforts by organizing a series of advocacy actions. In May, 10 national organizations joined with UUs to engage SFRC Chairman Senator Robert Menendez on Twitter and Facebook. In June, UUSC President and CEO Bill Schulz joined more than

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Moving Forward, Thanks to Your Generosity

You did it!

You and more than 2,300 other friends of UUSC gave over $250,000 to help us reach this years Annual Fund goal. And this means we met the matching challenge from the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, N.Y., too.

Now, confident of these resources, we can move forward, continuing to challenge injustice and advance human rights together with our partners.

Thank you we couldnt have met this goal without you!

20 other heads of organizations from Marie Brill of ActionAid USA to Raymond Offenheiser Jr. of Oxfam America in an open letter to urge Senator Menendez and SFRC Ranking Member Senator Bob Corker to support swift enactment of the bill. A final push came when Schulz placed a Huffington Post op-ed to highlight the CEO letter.

As stated in the letter, With significant post-earthquake assistance still unspent and the needs of the Haitian people still unmet, it is time for Congress to provide stronger oversight and policy guidance to the State Department. The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act of 2013 would address these significant and unmet needs.

Soon afterward, on June 24, the SFRC took up Assessing Progress in Haiti Act. The Senate passed the bill on July 10, and the House reaffirmed the Senate-passed version on July 25. President Obama signed it into law on August 8.

If the United States is to be a true partner to Haiti, then it must be held accountable for the assistance it has been paying lip service to since 2010. The passage of the Assessing Progress in Haiti Act is a concrete step in the right direction.

Jessica L. Atcheson is UUSCs writer and editor.

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In Their Own Words: Hope Generates More HopeAn interview with Rainera LuceroConducted by Jessica L. Atcheson

In November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan (also called Yolanda) made landfall in the Philippines, bringing enormous devastation. UUSC and the Unitarian Universalist Association launched a relief fund to address immediate and longer-term needs of survivors. Rainera Lucero, an experienced human rights worker, is coordinating our on-the-ground work in the Philippines. This interview, edited for length, was conducted via e-mail in mid-June.

What are the biggest challenges of the recovery right now for the people UUSC is working with?

Now that the initial relief work food distribution, emergency shelter has ended, fewer international organizations are providing funds for continuing needs. And there are many. Were seeing increasing numbers of mental health cases and more reports of human trafficking in Yolanda-affected areas. In farming and fishing communities, livelihood recovery is a big challenge.

Reaching out to remote communities (small islands, mountainous areas) is on UUSCs radar as well as supporting more marginalized groups like indigenous

Rainera Lucero, coordinator of UUSCs on-the-ground work in the Philippines

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peoples, Yolanda widows, older people, and agrarian reform communities.

How is UUSC working with partners to meet those challenges?

UUSC is working with the Trauma Resource Institute (TRI) to share trauma self-help skills using TRIs Community Resiliency Model (CRM). UUSC helped coordinate several train-the-trainers sessions (with 47 trainees, plus an additional 80 sponsored by Loma Linda University) as well as the creation of the new Philippines Association of CRM Trainers (Phil-ACTS), which will offer continued learning, provide mutual support, and advocate for CRM in social services. To meet continuing livelihood challenges, UUSC is working with the Cebu-Bohol Relief and Rehabilitation Center (CRRC) to support fishing communities and with

the Pagtambayayong Foundation for Mutual Aid to supporting agrarian reform communities.

How are these projects making a difference so far?

The CRM training makes a big difference in the way organizations address mental health. CRMs approach to managing trauma has proven effective in bringing about strength and well-being in people. The CRM skills are empowering people and communities.

Tessie Fernandez, the executive director of Lihok Pilipina Foundation, told me that every day she encounters women seeking help from domestic violence and other stressful conditions, and that the CRM pocket guide which she carries with her everywhere has helped her help other women better.

A Gift That Creates a Better WorldThere are many ways to recognize lifes special occasions a card, a cake, a beautiful bouquet of flowers. But why not give a gift that upholds human rights and social justice?

For a gift of $25 or more, UUSC will send a note to your special someone, letting them know you remembered them on their birthday, graduation, anniversary, retirement, or other special occasion. You can also choose to honor the memory of a departed friend or relative.

Make your special gift today at uusc.org/tribute.

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On Gibitngil Island, UUSC worked with CRRC to help a womens organization establish two small fishing supply stores. This cut procurement costs, eliminated the need to travel to the mainland, and generated income. I visited last month, and the women who managed the stores were energized more customers are buying their goods, which have expanded beyond fishing supplies.

With the Pagtambayayong Foundation, were supporting three agrarian reform communities that are developing organic and typhoon-resilient gardening. This initiative has generated interest from the provincial government, which now plans to showcase the same model in Yolanda Villages, the relocation sites for families who used to live in areas now considered no-build zones.

What brings you strength as you help carry out this work?

It is inspiring to see people helping and caring for each other during difficult times. Hope generates more hope. I generate my own strength from other peoples strength. Little successes build more inspiration, more energy, more actions, more blessings, and more successes. It is also moving to think that there are people out there who share the sorrows of the Filipinos and are providing support.

For more on UUSCs work in the Philippines, visit uusc.org/philippines. Jessica L. Atcheson is UUSCs writer and editor.

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The Power and Pitfalls of Service LearningBy Kathleen McTigue

The UU College of Social Justice (UUCSJ), a collaboration between UUSC and the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), aims to inspire and sustain faith-based justice work on issues of local, national, and global importance. Our primary strategy is to create opportunities for the kind of vivid, face-to-face learning that can open us to new insight, commitment, and vision. Service-learning journeys are one powerful way to do this, as long as attention is paid to avoiding potential pitfalls.

Service learning has the potential to be transformative. When we meet and work alongside people whose life circumstances and struggles are very different from ours, the result is a shift in perception that can change and deepen our justice work on our return. We learn new truths about inequality, both within the United States and between nations. We expand our field of vision and understand more deeply our own position in the matrix of privilege and power.

Yet service-learning journeys are often criticized as unhelpful or even damaging and the truth is that such trips are often poorly conceived. North Americans on mission or service trips to the Global South are often seen as naive, paternalistic, or self-serving in their approach. Even when we travel with a group we trust, and believe were going with

our eyes open, we can bring along with us the invisible baggage of our assumptions or our privilege. Though we go with the best of intentions, we can unconsciously support the very frameworks of injustice we hope to challenge.

UUCSJ tries to avoid these pitfalls by building our journeys around three core elements. First, our journeys are grounded in the commitment to eye-to-eye partnership. Wherever we travel, our partners are organizations led by the people whose interests they serve. We see ourselves not as top-down helpers but as allies working in solidarity to change unjust structures. UUSC and the UUA have long-term relationships with our partner organizations, and the journeys we organize are part of building that connection.

Second, we offer a framework of study, reflection, and preparation before the journey begins. Participants learn about their destination and the organization theyll visit as well as about the structures of economic injustice affecting the host community. They study the historic roots of these systems, including the colonial and neocolonial role sometimes played by our own country. But participants also study themselves; we help people learn more about where each of us stands in terms of privilege and power, and how our position shapes our point of view.

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Third, we emphasize the truth that the most significant service we can offer occurs not during the course of our service-learning journey but after we return home. When we harness the new perspectives and knowledge weve gained and apply those to the work of social change in our own communities and nation, we work more effectively for justice. And when we center ourselves in contemplative

practices and our core values, we gain sustenance and inspiration for the long haul.

Find out more about UUCSJs journeys at uucsj.org!

Kathleen McTigue is the director of the UU College of Social Justice.

Service-Learning JourneysJoin UUCSJ in the coming year for one of the following journeys! Visit uucsj.org for more information and to join their mailing list.

Domestic Chicago, Ill.: worker justice Mississippi: voting rights Long Island, N.Y.: Hurricane Sandy rebuilding Puget Sound, Wash.: indigenous peoples rights

International Mexico: immigration justice India: gender justice and land rights Haiti: just recovery and food sovereignty

18 Nathan Mitchell Photography

Enthusiasm, Input, and Growth UUSC hosts annual meeting of Stewardship Circle By Bill Schulz

The mission of the Stewardship Circle, a select group of UUSC supporters, is to inspire and nurture its members as advocates and ambassadors for UUSC and to tap their wisdom. This past April, UUSC hosted the sixth annual meeting of the Stewardship Circle in Washington, D.C., to provide members with valuable opportunities to engage with UUSCs work. The meeting included more than 90 participants our largest event to date!

With a membership of more than 200 people, the Stewardship Circle is a core of committed supporters with whom UUSC tests new ideas and shares insights into the work of the organization. During the April meeting, members provided feedback on the UU College of Social Justice and potential communications strategies to help us reach a wider audience. The gathering also honored Circle members for their generosity in service of social justice and human rights (each member donates a minimum of $5,000 a year to UUSC).

Circle members enjoyed conversations with several UUSC partners, including Saru Jayaraman

of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, Fausto Valiente of the Commission for Peace and Ecology in Guatemala, and UUSC volunteer Rob Robinson. Our own Patricia Jones, senior program leader for the human right to water, led a discussion about our successful case against the Canadian mining company Goldcorp [see page 7].

Members also visited U.S. congressional offices to lobby for a raise in the minimum wage, toured the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (including an installation honoring UUSC cofounders Martha and Waitstill Sharp), and heard from Scott Shane, one of Americas top national security reporters, of the New York Times.

I am continually inspired by the insights and energy that Stewardship Circle members bring to us and enormously grateful for their generous support of our work.

Bill Schulz is UUSCs president and CEO. For more information on joining the Stewardship Circle, contact Cassandra Ryan at [email protected] or 617-301-4340.

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Mementos from the 100 countries Martha Atherton visited with her late husband, Bob, decorate her home. This is one small way the global community shows up in her daily life. And Athertons significant support of UUSC since 1991 is one powerful way that she and her dedication to justice continue to show up and make a difference throughout the world.

Atherton, a member of UUSCs Stewardship Circle, is particularly interested in the rights of women and girls. She says, We are blessed to live in a country where women are free to exercise their rights, and I am committed to helping others achieve that same level of freedom and empowerment. She put that commitment into action with a three-year gift to fund UUSCs work with women and girls in Myanmar.

Athertons support provides leadership training for women, a key component of UUSCs efforts to advance gender inclusion. It also provides education for children, including girls, and empowers families through credit unions and other vital banking services. With Athertons assistance, UUSC is also helping communities in Myanmar address religious conflict.

While Atherton travels less than she used to, she has not slowed down, even at 86 years old. She is CEO of Raco Industrial Corporation (a family business) and is an involved member of the Countryside UU Congregation in Palatine, Ill., where she has been a member for 50 years. In addition to

A Profile of True EngagementBy Maxine Neil

her passion for human rights, she cares deeply about cystic fibrosis research, mental health research, and assisting local seniors, and is a leading sponsor of a local heart failure clinic. Atherton became a UU shortly after graduating from Indiana University with a degree in accounting, one of only three women in a class of 100 students.

To complement her current support, Atherton has also ensured that her devotion to justice continues when shes no longer around. By including UUSC in her estate plans, she knows that her values will outlive her through the work UUSC will do in her name to advance justice throughout the world.

Maxine Neil is director of UUSCs Institutional Advancement Department. If you would like to make a major investment in UUSCs work today or include UUSC in your estate plans to continue this important work, please contact Neil at 617-301-4313 or [email protected].

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Gathering at the Table By Lauralyn Smith

Mark Your CalendarsSuggested date for Guest at Your Table worship service:

November 23

Over the past 40 years, UUSCs Guest at Your Table program has become a cherished tradition. Through this annual intergenerational program, we learn about human rights, join together in solidarity, offer our support, and take action.

There is something special about gathering at the table; we break bread, tell our stories, and share our blessings in community. We affirm human connections. Guest at Your Table brings you closer to human rights activists around the world and also builds on the personal relationships with those around you.

Please join us for Guest at Your Table this fall and symbolically include the following guests youll have the opportunity to learn their stories and delve into the theme of sustainability that ties them together.

Marie Obethe Moise and Nancy Vilce, leaders of the Association for the Promotion of Integral Family Healthcare, a holistic grassroots health clinic in Haiti

Chrisantus Mwandihi, director

of the SoilFarm Multi-Culture

Group, which runs the Hope in Crops project in Kenya

Don Mario Prez, a coffee farmer in Honduras, and Equal Exchange, a worker-owned, fair-trade food company that UUSC collaborates with to support small farmers around the world

This year, Guest at Your Table activities will tie in well with World Food Day (celebrated October 16), which will share the theme of food sustainability.

In the approaching season of gratitude and reflection, we will have exciting new resources to help you facilitate meaningful gatherings. Resources will include materials geared to families with younger children and adults who would like to host a themed meal or potluck with friends, neighbors, and other community members.

Find out more and start planning at uusc.org/guest.

Lauralyn Smith is UUSCs senior associate for congregation and volunteer engagement.

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Tell Us Your Thoughts!

1. How does UUSC compare with other organizations to which you contribute?

Top priority

Ranks among my top three priorities

Just one of many

2. Which of the following interests you most?

Protecting human rights during natural or manmade disasters, like the typhoon in the Philippines

Advancing economic justice (e.g., raising the minimum wage in the United States)

Working for environmental justice, including the human right to water

Defending civil liberties

All of the above

3. Have you heard of the Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice (UUCSJ)?

Yes

No

4. What are your communication preferences?A. Gift solicitations:

Mail

Phone

E-mail

In person

B. Updates on our work via Rights Now, oursemiannual print newsletter:

Yes

No

C. Updates on our work via Toward Justice,our quarterly e-mail newsletter:

Yes

No

D. E-mail about immediate actionopportunities:

Yes

No

Contact information Name: Address: E-mail address: By providing your contact information, you agree to receive communications from UUSC. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Thank you for taking the time to participate! Please mail your completed survey to UUSC, Attn: Maxine Neil, 689 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139.

UUSC is committed to being good stewards of your support. As a part of that, we invite you to share your thoughts in the survey below! We will use the compiled feedback to help us improve.

UU

SCs N

ew O

nline Store: the G

ood Buy!N

on

pro

fit O

rg.

U.S. Po

stage

PAID

Provid

ence, R

IPerm

it No

. 1367

Rights NowU

nitarian Universalist Service Com

mittee

689 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, M

A 02139-3302

Say good-bye to shopping thats bad for workers

and the earth. Say hello to sustainable living.

thegoodbuy.com

Each purchase helps fund UU

SCs program

s around the world!